(Originally Posted Apr 2018)
Well, here we are again, another WWE Pay-Per-View has come around and we must arbitrarily predict who will win, and who won’t. I make it sound like a bore, but I actually have a lot of fun with these, and this is kind of a strange one; On the one hand it feels like an over-glorified house show, but on the other it feels like it could be an even more important PPV than Wrestlemania. So here are my predictions for the Greatest Royal Rumble:
Cedric Alexander(c) vs Kalisto (Cruiserweight Championship)
This one is very much the least important match on the card, as much as I hate to say it. While I think story-wise it would’ve been more interesting for them to have Cedric vs Drew Gulak, I can understand why for this show, they’d much rather just have a showcase match with their top talents. So overall I think this match will be a very fun one to watch, but I don’t see any other outcome other than Cedric Alexander retaining his championship.
The Bludgeon Brothers(c) vs The Usos (Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
The build for this one has been excellent, the Bludgeon Brothers have been treated like horror movie monsters over the past month and watching the Usos play off them has been fantastic. Ultimately I hope this feud just builds and builds, I want the New Day and The Bar to get involved as the dynamic between all of them could make for extremely entertaining television. As for this match though, I think there’s no question The Bludgeon Brothers retain, they’ve done such a fantastic job building them up, there’s no way they’re going to tear that down now.
The Bar vs Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt (Raw Tag Team Championships)
Well this one feels very much like a formality doesn’t it? While I thought the whole Braun & Nicholas thing was super fun, it did kind of throw everything out of whack a bit. So now we’ve got another match were the outcome is pretty obvious, since I don’t see The Bar going back to Raw with the titles. However, I am very interested to see what Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt will do with the titles, so far there’s not been a whole lot other than Bray adopting Matt’s catchphrases, but I remain hopeful that once they have the titles, this could blossom and grow in all kinds of interesting directions.
Jeff Hardy(c) vs Jinder Mahal (United States Championship)
Again, this is a match that just feels like another formality. Admittedly, I did consider for a while the possibility that Jinder could win back his belt, for either Joe or Miz to take the IC belt and the brands swap mid-card titles once again, but in the end I just decided that was artificially adding layers of complexity to something that doesn’t really need it. However, I still hold out hope that this will be a good match, Jinder can have entertaining matches when his opponent forces him to work a faster pace, and I think Jeff Hardy could get a lot of out Jinder, and ultimately retain his US Title.
Seth Rollins(c) vs Finn Balor vs The Miz vs Samoa Joe (Ladder Match, Intercontinental Championship)
Could no-one be bothered to badly Photoshop the belt onto Seth’s shoulders like they usually do? Seems kinda strange, but I digress. The problem with having Backlash be literally 9 days after this, is that they sometimes book themselves into a corner. So Seth vs Miz is already booked for Backlash so it really means that only one of them will win this match, and while it makes the most sense for Seth to hold onto the belt, they’re really trying to make Miz the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time, and tieing the record for holding the belt with 9 would be a good way to achieve that. However, I’m going to go with the logic on this one and say Seth Rollins retains.
The Undertaker vs Rusev (Casket Match)
Undertaker.
Next.
John Cena vs Triple H
Oh hello 2006, I didn’t see you there.
I really have no idea what to make on this match, it exists purely to sell tickets and means nothing to anyone in the grand scheme of things and really…I think that’s a good thing. If this was bogged down by a story I think it would be really boring, but as it is, it’ll probably just be a really fun, house show style match. Ultimately I think John Cena will win, just because it’s the crowd pleasing option, and that is really what this show seems to be about.
AJ Styles(c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE Championship)
So, I was rather underwhelmed by their Wrestlemania match, it felt like a pretty bog standard WWE style world title match; but now, I have a lot more faith in them to put on the match we were all hoping for at Mania. Heel Nakamura has been an absolute gem to watch and his new entrance theme is boss as fuck, and I’m hoping this shift in dynamic is exactly what’s needed to make this match something worth talking about. As for the result, I’m finding that one a bit tricky to call, because part of me says that they’re going to pull the trigger on the title change, but another part of me says, there’s gonna be a wonky finish only for the title to actually change hands at Backlash. However, I think I’m going to go with my first instance and say Shinsuke Nakamura finally picks up, his first world championship in the WWE.
Brock Lesnar(c) vs Roman Reigns (Steel Cage, Universal Championship)
In a move that no-one saw coming (and if you did see it coming, you’re a liar), Brock retained the Universal Championship at Wrestlemania, and at first it was very confusing. Then one night later, this match was announced and suddenly it all made sense, they were saving Roman’s coronation for this big event, at a crowd that’s much more likely to cheer him. So yes, I do think Roman Reigns, is going to pick up the title here. I’m not sure what kind of match we’ll get, as we’ve seen both great and horrible from them; and I don’t know if the steel cage will help or hinder the match, as it’s done both in the past. I also don’t know what’s gonna happen with Brock after this, some sources claim he’s out the door, other sources claim those reports are false, so it’s all up in the air. Which, who knows, might make for an interesting time….probably not though.
50 Man Royal Rumble
And now, for this entire show’s namesake, the “Greatest Royal Rumble” which in reality is just the longest Royal Rumble, where the winner gets….a trophy? I mean I can almost guarantee you that the winner will claim a world title shot anyway, but it’s really not been made clear what the point of it all is. Either way, I think there are two men who have a shot at winning this thing, and here they are:
First up is Braun Strowman, everyone (myself included) loves Braun, and they can’t keep him down from the world title forever, not only would this be a huge thing for him to hang his hat on, I also think rekindling his program with Reigns would be a great way to kick off Reigns’ title run. Other than that, I just think it would get a huge crowd reaction, but not as big as…
Daniel Bryan, this is the man my money’s on to win this thing. I’ll admit, from a story perspective, there’s not really a whole lot of reasoning to it, but if you’re looking for the biggest crowd reaction to the winner of this match, then Daniel Bryan is your man, the place would explode if he won it. Plus, look me in the eyes and tell me you would want to see a Bryan vs Nakamura feud.
So that’s it! That is all of the matches predicted! In a weird way, I’m really looking forward to this show, even though I don’t think it’ll be super memorable in the long run, but hey, who doesn’t love a Royal Rumble.
Be sure to share this around wherever you can, and follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo, where I’m likely to be live tweeting the show! I’ll see you later in the week for my recap of the show!
The Strong Style Smark 